I made the bread this morning and had some for dinner. It was excellent...tasted even better than what I remember at the safari camp! It is a very easy recipe and definitely a keeper. Actually, half the loaf is already gone! The following shows the substitutions I made. Thanks for the tip about not using pastry flour. I didn't change any of the quantities and I think both taste and texture came out very well...except for the mess in my oven and a sunken middle from over proofing! Seeded whole wheat bread (&Beyond cookbook) 2 c cake flour [sub'd spelt] 2 c nutty wheat or whole wheat flour [sub'd white whole wheat flour] 1 c oats 1 c digestive bran [sub'd wheat bran] 1 Tbs instant dried yeast 1 tsp salt 1/4 c poppy seeds 1/4 c sunflower seeds or linseeds [used sunflower seeds] 1/4 c sesame seeds 1/4 c golden syrup [sub'd agave nectar] 1 Tbs olive oil 2 1/2 c lukewarm water Preheat oven to 160 C (320 F). Place all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Mix together syrup, olive oil and water. Add liquids to dry ingredients and stir until well mixed. The mixture will be slightly wet. Spoon into a greased small loaf pan [I used a 9"x5" loaf pan] and allow dough to rise in a warm place in the pan. [I forgot and let it proof for too long...about an hour...made a mess in the oven!] Sprinkle with some extra seeds. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour or until a skewer is inserted and comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes and turn out on a cooling rack to cool completely.

This recipe was given to me by a dear friend, Mildred, from Arkansas. She got a similar recipe from Pleasant Hill Grain but wasn't happy with it, and together we "tweaked" it. This recipe is designed for a Zojirushi Bread Machine (make the dough only - not baked in the bread machine), but it will work if you want to make it by-hand. We call it "Mildred Bread" at our home, and there is a 3x5 recipe card with the ingredients safely taped to the bread machine. It's our everyday bread. I make loaves, dinner rolls, burger buns, hot dog buns, cinnamon rolls, etc. all from this same dough. Sometimes I'll make one 1-pound or 1-1/2-pound loaf and use the remaining amount of dough for rolls, cinnamon rolls, burger buns, etc.... This recipe is a bit wordy with explanations (that's the teacher in me from teaching so many bread classes ;-), but once you've made it, you'll be able to follow a 3x5 recipe card with the ingredients listed on it, like I do. CAUTION: Not all bread machines are capable of mixing 100% whole wheat bread dough, so check your user's manual. Enjoy, -Grainlady 100% WHOLE WHEAT BREAD Sponge: The night before, remove the bread machine pan and add the ingredients: 3/4 c. warm buttermilk (I use homemade kefir) 3/4 c. warm water 2\-1/2 c. freshly milled hard wheat (red or white) flour 1/4 t. ascorbic acid (if you don't have, or can't find, ascorbic acid, use Fruit Fresh \- but the acid is important!!!) 2 t. SAF\-Instant Yeast (I suggest SAF\-Instant Yeast and have never used anything else for this recipe) Place the pan into the bread machine and set on the Quick Dough setting and allow the ingredients to mix together well for a few minutes (you may need to scrape down any dry particles with a spatula), then turn the bread machine off (at the button, don't pull the plug or you risk damaging your bread machine computer). Shut the lid, and allow this mixture to set overnight. (If you are in a hurry, let the ingredients sponge for 1\-1/2 hours and then finish making the bread.) \*\*If making the recipe by hand, mix the ingredients well using a Danish Dough Whisk or a wooden spoon. Cover the bowl (using a shower cap, a Quick Cover, or a sheet of plastic wrap) and allow to sit on your counter at room temperature. If you have a dough\-rising bucket, use it for mixing the dough as well as for rising. After mixing in a dough\-rising bucket, snap on the lid and allow the sponge to sit on your counter. The next day (or anytime after 1\-1/2\-hours), remove the bread machine pan and add these ingredients to the sponge: 2 T. coconut oil (melted \- or use vegetable oil or melted butter) 2 T. honey or agave nectar 1 egg (I also add 1/3\-1/2 c. of chia seed gel, but that's optional.) On top of these ingredients in the bread machine pan add: 2\-1/4 c. freshly\-milled whole wheat flour 2 t. salt Place the pan back into the bread machine. Set bread machine to Quick Dough Cycle and start the machine. After it has been working for 5\-minutes, or so, be sure to check the hydration of the dough. You want a nice soft ball that is slightly sticky to\-the\-touch. It's better to err on the side of a wet dough than a stiff dry dough, so adjust the dough by adding more flour, or adding more water, if necessary. As soon as the dough has completed the kneading cycle (don't allow the dough to rise in the bread machine), turn the machine off. Remove the pan from the bread machine and dump the dough out onto a SILPAT (no flour necessary). With oiled hands so the dough doesn't stick, pat the dough into a dough\-rising bucket (I use a 2\-quart plastic food storage container that has graduated measurements on the side. I got the container at the local restaurant supply store, but you can find dough\-rising buckets at King Arthur Flour and elsewhere on\-line. I have them in three sizes for different amounts of dough.) Snap the lid on the dough\-rising bucket and allow it to rise until just under "double". (If the dough comes up to the 1\-quart line, it will be double when it reaches the 2\-quart line.) Check the rise after 20\-25\-minutes. It rises quickly if your kitchen is warm, and slower if your kitchen is cool. \*\*If making the dough by\-hand, add the 2 t. salt, 2 T. agave nectar (or honey) and egg to the sponge mixture, and then add enough of the 2\-1/4 c. of whole wheat flour to make a nice soft dough (add more flour than 2\-1/4 c., if necessary). Add the flour gradually \- a little at a time, and beat each addition of flour into the mixture before adding more. A Danish Dough Whisk is the perfect tool for this process (as well as stirring all batters and doughs), but a wooden spoon will also work well. If you do a good job of mixing, you won't need to spend as much time kneading. When making bread dough by\-hand, you need to spend a good deal of time beating the dough with the spoon or Danish Dough Whisk. You develop the gluten during the mixing, as well as during kneading. When you don't have the strength to mix it with a spoon anymore, place the dough on an oiled counter top and knead until the gluten has developed (6\-10 minutes). If you use an oiled counter top you won't have to add flour to the dough. By doing a good job of mixing, you will need only a little additional flour \- or none at all. If your dough is a shaggy sticky glob, you didn't do a good job of mixing. Oil your hands so they don't stick to the dough while handling it. Place dough in a dough\-rising bucket, snap on the lid, and allow the dough to rise until it's just below "double". Follow the remaining instructions... \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- When the dough has doubled in bulk, you will need to take the lid off the dough\-rising bucket and punch it down. To do that, oil your hand and make a fist. GENTLY drive your fist through the center of the dough. Now grab the outer edge of the dough and pull it into the center hole. Do this all the way around. This moves the cooler outside dough to the inside (you have essentially turned the dough inside\-out.) This method degasses the dough and also redistributes the yeast throughout the dough. Place the dough out onto a SILPAT (a silicone mat). Handle the dough with oiled hands \- no flour necessary. If you are making more than one loaf from this dough, now is the time to scale it (weigh it on a kitchen scale), and divide the dough into equal portions. Round each portion. You round the dough by cupping both hands around the dough ball while it sits on the counter and gently pull the dough from the top to the bottom, moving it slightly each time you pull it down, until you have a nice, smooth ball of dough. A smooth ball of dough will get the gluten strands running in one direction and will hold in the gasses in. Cover the dough (I use a bowl or my dough rising bucket, or a sheet of plastic wrap) and allow it to rest for 10\-15\-minutes. This allows the gluten strands to relax. To form a loaf... With oiled hands, pat the dough out on the Silpat until it's about 1\-inch thick and the width of the pan you are going to use. Roll the dough up and pinch the seam closed. Tuck the ends under the bottom. Place the dough, seam side down, into a greased loaf pan/s and cover with plastic wrap. Allow it to double in bulk. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for about 25\-minutes, or until it's between 195\-200\-degrees F when you check it with an instant read thermometer.

I just went to take a picture and can't find my camera! I know its somewhere in the house...just have to find it..LOL My hubby had it last and who knows where he put it after using it! NOT where he got it from obviously. I just had to eat one right out of the oven and it is beyond delicious! I think I'll fix some tomorrow for my neighbor! She will surely love them too. Deb

That's odd about the orange juice. It's really supposed to be there to help neutralize anti-nutrients, but it only works for a long rise. I use vitamin C crystals instead. Fresh whole wheat flour isn't bitter unless it's an old fashioned hard red wheat that Grainlady told us about. The I have several kinds of wheatberries and they're always sweet when freshly milled. Once milled, whole wheat flour can go rancid fairly quickly because there are more natural oils in it. This can also make the bread bitter, and it's my theory that that's why so many people put sweetener in their whole wheat breads. 100% whole wheat is tricky because the bran can cut the gluten. It doesn't rerise well, and doesn't want to be handled a lot. Additionally, it doesn't usually rise as fast or as high. though there are some who say they have the knack. For the moisture, however, you need time for the flour to absorb the water. Both for dough quality (including the moistness) and better nutrition you should do a preferment and a soaker, which is the opposite of most bread machine recipes. You should be able to adapt a recipe, however. I don't use a bread machine but as I understand it, it uses instant (rapid rise) yeast for a fast rise. Instead, use small amount of regular yeast, and start it with a small portion of the flour and water. Set it aside to rise and for the yeast to multiply. Like overnight. It should double. Meanwhile, combine the rest of the ingredients to soak up the water. It'll start off seeming very dry, but it'll be moist and sticky after at least 8 hours. You can probably mix it right in the machine and turn it off to soak. Then mix in the preferment and knead. Turn it off again to let it rise. Then bake. You might do well baking right in the machine. Otherwise, let it rise on whatever pan you mean to bake it in. If you don't handle it once it's risen, you won't lose so much of your rise, giving you a better sponge and more chance that it won't be dense or heavy. Good luck!